Latch for doors



J. A. EDGERLY.

' LATCH FORDOORS. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 4, 1920 1 380 545 Patented June7, 1921.

UNHTEEJD SATES PATNT QFFEQO JOHN A. EDG-ERLY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS,ASSIGNOR OF ONE-F TO MATTHEW EDGERLY,-OF BROOKLIN'E, MASSACHUSETTS.

LATCH FOR DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June t, 1921.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN A. EDGERLY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented new and useful Improvements in Latches for Doors, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to a latch for doors, the object of the inventionbeing to provide a strong and simple means for preventing the movablelatch member, or bolt, from be ing disengaged from the striker plateinto which said locking member projects, by unauthorized means, such asforcing said latch member out of engagement with the plate on a doorcasing by pushing said member back with a thin piece of metal-or with aknife blade; and also the invention is adapted to prevent a door beingforced open by means of a jimmy.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts setforth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in theclaims thereof.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a door with my improvedlatch attached thereto; 1

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the casing of the door with my improvedlatch plate attached thereto;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken through the latch and plate andshowing the door and door casing in connection therewith;

Fig. 4 is a lan view of a modified form of latch mem er.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of thedrawings.

In the drawings: 5 is a latch of a construction well-known to thoseskilled in the art. the same being shown in a door 6. The knob 7 isadapted at all times to operate a latch member 8 which, in this case,consists of a horizontally movable member.

The latch 5 is provided with two push members 9 and 10 which arealternately operated to throw a knob 11 into engagement with the member8 or out of engagement therewith in a manner well-known to those skilledin the art and when said knob is out of engagement, the movable-latchmember is operated by a key from the outside of the door. The latch 5 isprovided with a front plate 12 which is fastened to the front edge ofthe door 6 and has a channel-shaped recess 13 extending thereacross andthe movable member 8 is provided with a vertical groove 14 extendingacross one face thereof. 15 is the casing of a door and has a strikerplate 17 fast thereto similar to the ordinary striker plates well-knownto those skilled in the art, except that it has a projection 18 thereon,which is provided with a hole 19. \Vhen the door is closed as in Fig, 3the member 8 projects into the hole 19 and its outer end is entirelyinclosed by said projection and under normal conditions said-member canbe moved transversely of the plate 17 and into and out of the hole 19 bya spring not shown in the drawings and by the handle 7 respectively. Theknob 11 is on the outside of the door and unless it is desired to leavethe door so that anyone can open it from the outside, this knob isdisengaged from the member 8. If anyone tries to force the door 6 openby inserting a jimmy or other tool between the portion 20 of the, doorcasing and the door, as at the point A, it will be seen that the doorwill be forced in the direction of the arrw B, Fig. 3, and as the dooris also forced in the direction of the arrow C by the pressure of saidjimmy, the member 8 will bemoved in the direction of the arrow C untilthe.

slot 14 arrives in alinement with the edge 21 of the hole 19. whereuponthe edge 21 will enter the slot 14 and lock the member 8 to the plate 17thus locking the latch 5 and the door 6 to the striker plate 17 and tothe casing 15.

To force the door apart from the casing under these conditions, it willbe necessary to tear the door and casing to pieces. It will also be seenthat in order to pick the latch that is to move the member 8 rearwardlyout of alinement with the plate 17, it will be necessary to get the toolwhich is being used, such as a knife blade around the edge of the plate17 at 22 and into the hole 19. This would be a "cry diflicult,'in factpractically an impossible, operation toperform. for the reason that theouter end of the member 8 or all of that portion of the member 8 whichextends outwardly beyond the plate 12 is entirely inclosed within theprojection 18, both on its upper and lower faces and upon its front andback faces. In doing this also pressure will be brought to bear which,if the member 8 could be by such means retracted, it would when the slot14 arrived opposite the edge 21 be moved laterally thereof, so that saidedge would enter said groove and the member 8 and plate 17 would then belocked together.

It is evident that while it is preferable to provide the member 8 withthe vertical groove or slot 14, said groove or slot might be alsoapplied to the locking member 23,

ig. 1. It will be still further understood that the groove 14 may bereplaced by a recess 24 as seen in F ig. 4 in the modified movablemember 25, such a recess would leave a lip 26 on the movable memberwhich, when said member is moved laterally of its normal direction ofmovement, would interengage with the edge 21 of the plate 17.

I claim:

1. A latch embodying a front plate adapted to be fastened to the frontedge of a door and having a channel-shaped recess extending horizontallythereacross, a horizontally movable member in said latch adaptednormally to project through said front plate and into said recess andhaving a vertical slot in one face thereof, a striker plate adapted tobe fastened to a door casing, and a pro-- jection on said striker plateadapted to enter said recess when said door is closed, said projectionhaving a hole therein adapted to receive and entirely inclose the outerend of said horizontally movable member when the same is in advancedposition, said projection at one side of said hole being adapted toproject into said vertical. slot when the door is moved laterallythere-of to prevent said member and striker plate from being disengagedfrom each other.

2. A latch embodying a front plate adapted to be fastened to the frontedge of a door and having a channel-shaped recess extending horizontallythereacross, a horizontally movable member in said latch adaptednormally to project through said front plate and intosaid channel-shapedrecess and having a recess in one face thereof, a striker plate adaptedto be fastened to a door casing, and a projection on said striker plateadapted to enter said channel-shaped recess when said door is closed,said projection having a hole therein adapted to receive and entirelyinclose the outer end of said horizontally movable member when the sameis in advanced position, said projection at one side of said hole beingadapted to project into said recess in one face of said horizontallymovable member when the door is moved laterally thereof, whereby saidhorizontally movable member and striker plate are prevented from beingdisengaged from each other.-

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

FRANKLIN E. Low, HERMAN R. HOFFMAN.

